Support for a Cartridge for Transferring an Electronically Readable Item of Information from the Cartridge to an Electronic Circuit

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to: A support ( 15 ) for a cartridge ( 10 ) provided with one or more electronically readable information carrying areas ( 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127 ). The invention further relates to the use of a composite material for a support. The object of the present invention is to provide means, which are capable of securely transferring information with an increased density from a cartridge to an electronic circuit, and which are flexible and may be customized to a variety of physical designs. The problem is solved in that the support ( 15 ) for the cartridge ( 10 ) is at least partially constituted by one or more electrically connecting supports ( 151 ), each comprising a number of closely spaced mutually electrically insulated conductors ( 1511 ) embedded in an electrically insulating material ( 1512, 155 ) that stretches from one of the supporting surfaces of the cartridge to a contact area ( 163 ) for receiving and transferring the information, when said cartridge ( 10 ) is positioned in said support ( 15 ). This has the advantage of providing a flexible solution, allowing a large information density on a cartridge to be safely transferred to an electronic circuit. The invention may be used e.g. in connection with replaceable medication cartridges for medication delivery devices and with other cartridges from which an item of information is to be electronically transferred.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATIONS

This patent application is a continuation of copending U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/296,991 filed Dec. 8, 2005, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/925,792 filed onAug. 9, 2001 (U.S. Pat. No. 6,994,261), and claims priority of DanishPatent Application PA 2000 01200 filed on Aug. 10, 2000 and priority ofU.S. Patent Application 60/229,106 filed on Aug. 30, 2000, and thecontents of all of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to the electronic marking of cartridges or thelike.

The invention relates specifically to: A support for a cartridgeprovided with one or more electronically readable information carryingareas.

The invention furthermore relates to: The use of a composite material,comprising a number of closely spaced mutually electrically insulatedconductors embedded in an electrically insulating material.

DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART

The following account of the prior art relates to one of the areas ofapplication of the present invention, the electronic marking ofmedication cartridges.

The marking of medication cartridges to be able to electronically readdetails of its contents is of increasing importance, i.a. to ensure asafe and convenient use of the medication in connection with a patient'sself-treatment of a disease such as diabetes. In order for the user tofeel secure about handling the medication it is important that errors inhis or hers use of the drug are avoided.

One remedy to avoid errors is an intelligent marking of the contents(i.e. drug, concentration, relevant dose, last day of use, etc.) of themedication cartridge. This includes a visually intelligible marking ofthe cartridge for reading by a user as well as an electronicallyreadable code for use by a processing unit of the medication deliverydevice, the processing unit being used for monitoring and controllingthe actual delivery of the medication to the user and for making arecord of the drug administration history, etc. In other words a certainarea of the medication cartridge must be reserved to hosting anincreasing amount of information.

The information on a medication cartridge must be provided in a safe andsimple way that is easily transferred from the cartridge to anelectronic processing circuit. U.S. Pat. No. 5,954,700 discloses acartridge for containing a fluid and for use with an electronic deliverydevice that includes a cartridge housing for holding the fluid, and aninformation providing source. The information-providing source may be aset of wires and contacts, or contact bands that provide thepredetermined information to an electronic delivery device by producinga binary code. To implement a specific binary code requires anindividual customisation of the cartridge as regards the contacts orcontact bands and the wires connecting them to a positive or negativevoltage. Our co-pending application “Electronic marking of a medicationcartridge” discloses a method of marking a medication cartridge that issimple and improves safety in reading. The method provides theinformation redundantly and implements in one of its embodiments a givenbinary code by adding insulating areas to a conducting foil (connectedto a supply voltage) and transferring the information to a processingunit by means of a support based on the principles outlined in thepresent patent application.

Another remedy for avoiding errors and for making the user feelcomfortable with the handling is that the drug contained in themedication cartridge is visible from outside, so that the user is ableto check the color, the uniformity, whether impurities are present, etc.For this reason, as large a part of the surface of the medicationcartridge as possible should be free of labels and other opaque itemsthat limit a user's view of the contents. Further, there is a generaltrend to miniaturization of electronic devices including medicationdelivery devices, so that they are easy to carry and discreet in use.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

Thus there is a need for a way of transferring densely coded informationon the, typically curved, surface of a medication cartridge to anelectronic circuit connected to a processing circuit, said informationbeing provided in binary form on the cartridge by a mixture of patternsof electrically conducting and electrically insulating wires, areas orpatches or the like.

The object of the present invention is to provide means, which arecapable of securely transferring information with an increased densityfrom a cartridge to an electronic circuit, and which are flexible andmay be customized to a variety of physical designs.

This is achieved according to the invention in that the support for thecartridge is at least partially constituted by one or more electricallyconnecting supports, each comprising a number of closely spaced mutuallyelectrically insulated conductors embedded in an electrically insulatingmaterial that stretches from one of the supporting surfaces of thecartridge to a contact area for receiving and transferring theinformation, when said cartridge is positioned in said support.

When each of said one or more electrically connecting supports isconstituted by alternating layers of electrically conducting material ofmaximum thickness T_(cl) and electrically insulating material of maximumthickness T_(il), respectively, it is ensured that a simple and flexiblesolution is provided. By controlling the thicknesses of the two layertypes, the maximum density of information may be controlled.

When said support is made of elastic materials, it may be ensured thatthe support conforms to the shape of the cartridge when the cartridge ispositioned in the support with a certain minimum pressure. I.e. it makesthe support even more flexible and relaxes the tolerances to itsconformity with the cartridge and with the contact area (e.g. pads on aprinted circuit board (PCB) for connecting to a processing circuit onthe PCB).

In a preferred embodiment said one or more electrically connectingsupports are made of elastomeric materials.

In a preferred embodiment said electrically conducting material consistsof silicone rubber with a concentration of carbon black sufficient forelectrical conduction.

When said cartridge has an axial direction of symmetry, and saidinformation carrying areas are located preferably in one axial end ofthe cartridge, it is ensured that the main part of the cartridge is notcovered by the electronically readable information and may be held freefor optical inspection of the contents of the cartridge (in case of atransparent cartridge). By using a fine layer pitch in the electricallyconnecting supports, the electronically readable information may bedensely written and thus be concentrated to an end of the cartridge thatis used for a lid or cover, in which case the whole effective volumeavailable for housing the medication may be open for inspection.

When said cartridge has an axial direction of symmetry, and saidinformation carrying areas are located preferably in an axial directionof the cartridge covering only a limited angular sector, it is ensuredthat the whole length of the cartridge in its axial direction may beused for coding information and at the same time it is possible toinspect the contents of the cartridge over the full axial length of thecartridge.

In a preferred embodiment said support comprises one electricallyconnecting support preferably stretching in an axial direction of thecartridge.

When said support comprises two or more electrically connecting supportseach stretching preferably in an axial direction of the cartridge andbeing located side by side along the radial periphery of the cartridge,it is ensured that the electronically readable information may bewritten several times in information carrying areas distributed alongthe radial periphery of the cartridge and that two or more of the areasmay be simultaneously read. The information in each area may bedifferent, in which case the information capacity is increased.Alternatively, the information in each area may be redundantly providedby coding the same information in all areas or by alternatingly codingits binary true and inverted forms. The redundancy may be used toimplement checks to improve reading security.

When the surface of the support facing towards the cartridge, includingthe one or more electrically connecting supports, in an axial crosssection correspond to the surface of the cartridge, it is ensured thatthe cartridge is received and supported in an optimal way if the supportis made of a relatively inelastic material.

When the surface of the support facing towards the cartridge, includingthe one or more electrically connecting supports, in an axial crosssection essentially correspond to the surface of the cartridge, whensaid cartridge is positioned in said support, it is ensured that thecartridge is received and supported in an optimal way if the support ismade of a relatively elastic material.

When said cartridge has an axial direction of symmetry, and said contactarea consists of groups of identical and regularly spaced electricallyconducting pads of width Wcp in the direction of adjacent pads, adjacentpads being separated by an electrically insulating area of width Diacp,and the following relations between said distances are fulfilled:

Diacp>2*T_(cl), and

Wcp>T_(il)+T_(cl),

it is ensured that the electrical states of adjacent (possibly abutted)predefined positions are not trans-ferred to the same pad(Diacp>2*T_(cl)), and that at least one conducting layer contacts anygiven pad (Wcp>T_(il)+T_(cl)).

When said cartridge has an axial direction of symmetry, and saidcartridge is provided with a multitude of rectangular, essentiallyparallel, identically sized information carrying areas of height Hica inthe direction of a circumference of said axis of symmetry, saidinformation carrying areas being spaced with equal mutual distance Dicaalong the periphery of the cartridge in the direction of a circumferenceof said axis of symmetry, and said supporting means comprise tworectangular, essentially parallel, identical electrically connectingsupports of height Hctm in the direction perpendicular to the axis ofsymmetry of the cartridge, separated by an electrically insulatingvolume of width Dctm between the two electrically connecting supports,and the following relations between said distances are fulfilled:

Hica<Dctm<2*Hica+Dica, and

Hctm<Dica<2*Hctm+Dctm,

it is ensured that the cartridge cannot be positioned in such a way thata given information carrying area has contact to two electricallyconnecting supports at the same time (Hica<Dctm). It is further ensuredthat the cartridge cannot be positioned in such a way that a givenelectrically connecting support has contact to two information carryingareas at the same time (Hctm<Dica). It is further ensured that thecartridge cannot be positioned in such a way that the electricallyconnecting supports fall entirely between two information carryingareas, in which case they would not have contact to any of theinformation carrying areas of the cartridge (Dica<2*Hctm+Dctm). It isfurther ensured that the cartridge cannot be positioned in such a waythat two adjacent information carrying areas fall entirely between theelectrically connecting supports, in which case the latter might nothave contact to any of the information carrying areas of the cartridge(Dctm<2*Hica+Dica).

When said information carrying areas of height Hica each consist ofelectrically conducting and electrically insulating rectangular patchesprovided at said predefined positions on said cartridge according to abinary representation of said item of information, said patches having awidth Wpda abut each other, and the sum of the maximum thicknessesT_(cl) and T_(il) of said alternating layers of electrically conductingand electrically insulating materials, respectively, constituting saidelectrically connecting supports, is less than the width Wpda of saidpatches, thus fulfilling the following relation between said distances:

Wpda>T_(il)+Tc,

it is ensured that each patch has contact to at least one of theconducting layers of an electrically connecting support when thecartridge is properly placed in the support.

The use of a composite material, comprising a number of closely spacedmutually electrically insulated conductors embedded in an electricallyinsulating material is furthermore provided by the present invention.When said composite material is used at least for the partial support ofa cartridge and for the transfer of an electronically readableinformation from information carrying areas on said cartridge to acontact area, a secure transfer of information with an increased densityfrom a cartridge to an electronic circuit is provided.

When said closely spaced mutually electrically insulated conductorsembedded in an electrically insulating material are constituted byalternating layers of electrically conducting material and electricallyinsulating material, respectively, it is ensured that that a simple andflexible solution is provided.

In a preferred embodiment said alternating layers of electricallyconducting material and electrically insulating material, respectivelyare made of elastomeric materials.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be explained more fully below in connection with apreferred embodiment and with reference to the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows a cartridge containing an electrically readable informationin the form of patterns of patches in the axial direction of thecartridge and a support according to the invention comprising oneelectrically connecting support for transferring the information to anelectronic circuit,

FIG. 2 shows a cartridge containing an electrically readable informationin the form of patterns of patches in the axial direction of thecartridge and a support according to the invention comprising twoelectrically connecting supports for transferring the information to anelectronic circuit,

FIG. 3 shows a cartridge containing an electrically readable informationin the form of ring patterns and a support according to the inventioncomprising one electrically connecting support for transferring theinformation to an electronic circuit,

FIGS. 4.a-4.e show various ways of placing information carrying areasfor holding electronically readable information on a cartridge,

FIGS. 5.a-5.e show various ways of laying out the electricallyconducting and electrically insulating areas in predefined positionswithin an information carrying area, implementing a binaryrepresentation of an item of information in its true and inverted form,

FIGS. 6.a-6.c show various geometries of an electrically connectingsupport according to the invention,

FIGS. 7.a and 7.b show an example of a cartridge and a support accordingto the invention comprising three electrically connecting supports madeof elastic materials, and

FIG. 8 shows geometries involved in reading an item of informationprovided a multitude of times along the periphery of a cartridge with arotational symmetry by means of two electrically connecting supports.

The figures are schematic and simplified for clarity, and they just showdetails, which are essential to the understanding of the invention,while other details are left out. In general, the reference numerals ofa given drawing start with the number of that drawing, i.e. in FIG. 1,reference numerals typically have a 1 as the most significant digit(e.g. 1, 11, 125, 1250). This means on the other hand that functionallyidentical features occurring in different drawings have differentreference numerals.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

FIGS. 1-3 show a cartridge containing an electrically readableinformation in the form of patterns of electrically conducting andelectrically insulating areas and a support according to the inventioncomprising one or more electrically connecting supports for transferringthe information to an electronic circuit.

A support according to the invention has the combined function ofreceiving and mechanically supporting a part of the cartridge providedwith information carrying areas AND of transferring the information fromthe these information carrying areas to an electronic circuit forfurther processing.

With reference to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 (having reference numerals startingwith 1, 2 and 3, respectively), the cartridge 10, 20, 30, respectively,is only partially shown, as indicated by the ‘broken’ outline in theright-hand part of the cartridge. The cartridge possesses a rotationalsymmetry as indicated by the arrow 11, 21, 31, symbolizing the axis ofsymmetry. A label 12, 22, 32 containing information carrying areas laidout in the axial direction of the cartridge, is located on the outersurface at one axial end of the cartridge, where a lid 13, 23, 33,optionally in the form of a piston when the cartridge is a replaceablemedication cartridge for a medication delivery device, provides aclosure of the cartridge.

The label 12, 22, 32 comprises an electrically conducting foil 120, 220,320 having information carrying areas 121-127, 221-227, 325 extending inthe axial direction of the cartridge. In FIGS. 1 and 2, a multitude ofinformation carrying areas (121-127, 221-227, respectively, plus theones situated on the hidden part of the surface) are evenly distributedon the surface of the cartridge in a radial direction (i.e. along thewhole periphery encircling the axial direction of the cartridge). Eachinformation carrying area, comprising patterns of electricallyconducting and electrically insulating patches, thus only covers alimited radial sector of the surface. In FIG. 3, on the other hand, onlyone information carrying area 325 is indicated. This extends, however,along the whole periphery of the cartridge (i.e. the item of informationis represented by closed rings 3251-3260 of electrically conducting andelectrically insulating areas).

Each of the information carrying areas 121-127, 221-227, 325 contains anitem of information in the form of patterns of electrically conductingand electrically insulating areas. Each pattern represents an item ofinformation in binary form. Each bit of information is represented by anelectrically characteristic layer in a predefined position in theinformation carrying area. A binary one in a specific predefinedposition may be represented by an electrically conducting layer coveringthat predefined position, and a binary zero in a specific predefinedposition may be represented by an electrically insulating layer coveringthat predefined position. Alternatively, binary one may be representedby an insulating layer and binary zero by a conducting layer.

Because the foils 120, 220, 320 in FIGS. 1-3 containing the informationcarrying areas 121-127, 221-227, 325 are electrically conducting, it isonly necessary to apply an electrically insulating layer (e.g. a paint)to the predefined positions representing one of the a binary states (inthis embodiment ‘zero’).

In FIGS. 1-3, the cartridge is shown in a position just above thesupport 15, 25, 35, respectively, which, again for illustrativepurposes, is shown just above a PCB with electronic components andconnecting wires 16, 26, 36 containing pads 163, 263, 264, 363 withelectrical connections, symbolically indicated by an arrow 162, 262,362, to a processing unit 161, 261, 361, e.g. a microprocessor. Thesupport consists of one or more electrically connecting supports 151,251, 252, 351 embedded in an electrically insulating material 155, 255,355. The electrically connecting supports comprise alternating layers ofelectrically conducting 1511, 2511, 3511 and electrically insulating1512, 2512, 3512 layers of an elastomeric material, e.g. silicone rubberwith the electrically conducting layer having a concentration of carbonblack sufficient for electrical conduction. Each electrically conductinglayer is electrically insulated from all other electrically conductinglayers, so that each electrically conducting layer in effect representsan insulated conductor. By controlling the layer thicknesses, themaximum ‘density of information’ in the axial direction may becontrolled.

In the embodiments of FIGS. 1-3, the supports 15, 25, 35, including theelectrically connecting supports 151, 251, 252, 351, are shown to beadapted to receive the curved shape of the part of the cartridge, wherethe information carrying areas 121-127, 221-227, 325 are located, byshaping them equivalently. This makes possible the use of non-elasticmaterials for the support, if convenient.

In an operating configuration, the support is placed (and optionallyfastened) on the PCB 160, 260, 360 so that electrical contact betweenthe electrically connecting supports 151, 251, 252, 351 and the pads163, 263, 264, 363 is ensured. The cartridge is positioned on thesupport so that electrical contact between one (FIGS. 1, 3) or two (FIG.2) of the information carrying areas in their full axial lengths (i.e.involving all patches of a given information carrying area representingbits of information) and the electrically connecting supports isensured. The geometrical dimensions of the patches, layers and pads andmutual distance between adjacent information carrying areas on thecartridge and corresponding electrically connecting supports arediscussed below with reference to FIGS. 6 and 8.

By applying a specific electric potential to the electrically conductingfoil 120, 220, 320, this potential will be transferred from thosepredefined areas containing a conductive layer (i.e. in the presentembodiment those predefined areas not being covered by an insulatinglayer) to the corresponding pads on the PCB. Via the connectingcircuitry, a direct measure of the pattern of binary states of theinformation carrying area connected to the pads by a given electricallyconnecting support is presented on the inputs of the processing unit,possibly by appropriately terminating the inputs with pull-up orpull-down circuitry depending on the potential applied to theelectrically conducting foil and the definition of the binary states. Aspecific part of the foil may be preferably reserved to the applicationof the electric potential (e.g. an area of the foil circumfering thecartridge and not occupied by information carrying areas, in FIG. 3 e.g.the part of the foil 320 not covered by information bits in predefinedpositions 321-330).

The support 15, 25, 35 is only shown as having an axial lengthcorresponding to the axial length of the corresponding informationcarrying areas (e.g. 125 in FIG. 1) but it may of course extend in bothaxial directions if appropriate for the application in question.Likewise the support is shown to cover a certain radial sector (lessthan 90 degrees), but it may of course cover any radial sector,including 360 degrees, if appropriate. In a preferred embodiment, thesector covered by the support is less than 180 degrees allowing a direct‘vertical’ placement of the cartridge in the support (in opposition tothe case of a 360 degrees support, where the cartridge has to be axiallyinserted).

In FIGS. 1-3, the label 12, 22, 32 containing information carrying areas121-127, 221-227, 325 is placed in one axial end of the cartridge 10,20, 30 covering only the space occupied by the axial extent of thelid/piston 13, 23, 33 to ensure that a full view of the contents of thecartridge is available for inspection. Of course it might be located inany convenient position along the surface of the cartridge. Similarly,in FIGS. 1-3, the information carrying areas extend in the axialdirection of the cartridge. They might as well extend in a radialdirection (as discussed in connection with FIGS. 4 and 5) or in adirection there between (e.g. forming one or more helixes on the surfaceof the cartridge), if convenient, as long as the support, including theelectrically connecting support(s), is adapted thereto.

The electrical connections, schematically indicated by an arrow 162,262, 362, connecting the pads 163, 263, 264, 363 with the processingunit 161, 261, 361 may be a one to one parallel set of electricalconnections between each pad and a corresponding input on the processor161, 261, 361, but it may also comprise a multiplexing or coding unit toreduce the number of necessary inputs to the processing unit.

FIG. 1 shows a cartridge containing an electrically readable informationin the form of patterns of patches in the axial direction of thecartridge and a support according to the invention comprising oneelectrically connecting support for transferring the information to anelectronic circuit. The binary information contained in each of theinformation carrying areas 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127 is the sameas schematically indicated in the information carrying areas 125 and 126in that the patterns of electrically conducting patches, exemplified by1250, 1260 (no filling), and electrically insulating patches,exemplified by 1251, 1261 (hatched), are identical.

The embodiment in FIG. 1 benefits from the rotational symmetry of thecartridge 10 and the label 12 with identical information carrying areas121-127 equally distributed on the label along the periphery of thecartridge in that it only requires the user to position the cartridgeproperly in a radial direction (possibly involving a slight rotation ofthe cartridge around its axis of symmetry) to ensure that an electricalcontact between one of the information carrying areas 121-127 and theelectrically connecting support 151 is present (since the positioning inan axial direction 11 may be mechanically ensured by receiving means forthe cartridge). The control of the cartridge being correctly positionedmay be in the hands of the processing unit 161, which, if necessary, mayindicate to the user via a display (not shown) or a voice interface thata corrective action is required, and which may block further use of thedevice, if the cartridge is not correctly positioned.

FIG. 2 shows a cartridge containing an electrically readable informationin the form of patterns of patches in the axial direction of thecartridge and a support according to the invention comprising twoelectrically connecting supports for transferring the information to anelectronic circuit.

In the embodiment in FIG. 2, the support 25 comprises two electricallyconnecting supports 251, 252 for simultaneously reading two items ofinformation from two information carrying areas (e.g. 225, 226) on thecartridge 20. In FIG. 2 the evenly distributed information carryingareas 221-227 contain an item of information in a true binary formalternating with the information in its inverted form as indicated bythe schematically illustrated patterns of electrically conducting 2261and insulating 2251 patches in information carrying areas 225 and 226,respectively, one pattern being the inverse of the other. Apart from theadvantages of the rotational symmetry as described above in connectionwith FIG. 1, the embodiment of FIG. 2 has the advantage of reading theinformation in a binary true and inverted form, which allows the safetyin reading to be improved. Instead of providing the information in itstrue and inverted forms, the same binary representation of the item ofinformation may be provided in all information carrying areas (as inFIG. 1) and read twice, which also allows an improved safety in reading.In the embodiment of FIG. 2, the electrically conducting ‘end’-patches2250, 2260 may be used for connecting a power supply voltage.

FIG. 3 shows a cartridge containing an electrically readable informationin the form of ring patterns and a support according to the inventioncomprising one electrically connecting support for transferring theinformation to an electronic circuit.

In the embodiment in FIG. 3, the support 35 comprises only oneelectrically connecting support 351 for reading an item of informationfrom an information carrying area 325 on the cartridge 30. Theinformation carrying area 325 extends along the whole periphery of thecartridge 30. A binary representation of the item of information isimplemented by closed rings 3251-3260 of electrically conducting andelectrically insulating areas in predefined positions. This embodimenthas the advantage of having a full rotational symmetry so that thecartridge 30 may be (radially) arbitrarily oriented in the support.

FIGS. 4.a-4.e show various ways of placing information carrying areasfor holding electronically readable information on a cartridge.

FIGS. 4.a-4.d show a cartridge 40 with an axis of rotational symmetry 41and information carrying areas located at one axial end of thecartridge.

FIG. 4.a shows two information carrying areas 401, 402 positioned sideby side in a radial direction on the surface of the cartridge 40 (i.e.along the periphery perpendicular to the axis of symmetry). Eachinformation carrying area covers only a limited radial sector of thesurface.

FIG. 4.b shows two information carrying areas 403, 404 positioned sideby side in the axial direction 41 on the surface of the cartridge 40(i.e. along the periphery parallel to the axis of symmetry). Eachinformation carrying area 403, 404 covers only a limited radial sectorof the surface.

FIG. 4.c shows two information carrying areas 405, 406 positioned sideby side in the axial direction on the surface of the cartridge 40 (i.e.along the periphery parallel to the axis of symmetry 41). Eachinformation carrying area 405, 406 encircles the entire radial peripheryof the cartridge.

FIG. 4.d shows information carrying areas 410, 411, 412, 413, 414positioned side by side, evenly distributed in a radial direction on thesurface of the cartridge 40 (i.e. along the periphery perpendicular tothe axis of symmetry). Each information carrying area covers only alimited radial sector of the surface. Information carrying areas 410,411, 412, 413, 414 plus identical ones situated on the hidden part ofthe surface are evenly distributed on the surface of the cartridge in aradial direction, i.e. extending along the whole periphery encirclingthe axial direction of the cartridge.

FIG. 4.e shows an information carrying area 415 extending along themajor part of the axial length of the cartridge 40. The informationcarrying area is located within in a surface area 420 corresponding to aradial sector 421. In FIG. 4.e a single information carrying area isshown within the surface area 420. There might as well, however, beseveral information carrying areas located side by side in axial (cf.FIG. 4.b) or radial (cf. FIG. 4.a) direction.

FIGS. 5.a-5.e show various ways of laying out the electricallyconducting and electrically insulating areas in predefined positionswithin an information carrying area, implementing a binaryrepresentation of an item of information in its true and inverted form.

In each of FIGS. 5.a-5.e two information carrying areas containing anitem of information in a true and inverted binary form, respectively,are schematically shown. Each information carrying area has arectangular shape defining a longitudinal direction as the directiondefined by its longest side. A direction is also defined by thedirection perpendicular to the face between two neighboring predefinedpositions each containing a specific bit of information.

FIG. 5.a shows an embodiment with two information carrying areas 50, 51located side by side in a direction perpendicular to the direction 505defined by adjacent predefined positions. Each individual bit ofinformation is implemented as a patch of electrically conducting 511 (nofilling) or electrically insulating 501 (hatched) material located at aspecific predefined position of the information carrying area.Neighboring patches abut each other. The structure of informationcarrying areas 50, 51 may e.g. be used in FIGS. 4.a. and 4.d.

FIG. 5.b shows an embodiment with two information carrying areas 52, 53located side by side in a direction perpendicular to the direction 525defined by adjacent predefined positions. Each individual bit ofinformation is implemented as a patch of electrically conducting 531 (nofilling) or electrically insulating 521 (hatched) material located at aspecific predefined position of the information carrying area.Neighboring patches are separated by a an ‘empty’ space 520, 530 ofwidth equal to the width of each of the information carrying patches521, 531. The ‘empty’ space may consist of an electrically conducting orinsulating layer (as long as the pads on the PCB (cf. FIGS. 1-3) arecorrespondingly laid out). The structure of information carrying areas52, 53 may e.g. be used in FIGS. 4.a. and 4.d.

FIG. 5.c shows an embodiment with two information carrying areas 54, 55located side by side in a direction 545 defined by adjacent predefinedpositions. Each individual bit of information is implemented as a patchof electrically conducting 551 (no filling) or electrically insulating541 (hatched) material located at a specific predefined position of theinformation carrying area. Neighboring patches abut each other. Thestructure of information carrying areas 54, 55 may e.g. be used in FIGS.4.a. and 4.d.

FIG. 5.d shows an embodiment with two information carrying areas 56, 57located side by side in a direction 565 defined by adjacent predefinedpositions. Each individual bit of information is implemented as a patchof electrically conducting 562, 571 (no filling) or electricallyinsulating 561, 572 (hatched) material located at a specific predefinedposition of the information carrying area. Neighboring patches abut eachother. The structure of information carrying areas 56, 57 may e.g. beused in FIGS. 4.b. and 4.c.

FIG. 5.e shows an embodiment with two information carrying areas 58, 59located side by side in a direction perpendicular to the direction 585defined by adjacent predefined positions. Each individual bit ofinformation is implemented as a patch of electrically conducting 591 (nofilling) or electrically insulating 581 (hatched) material located at aspecific predefined position of the information carrying area.Neighboring patches abut each other. The structure of informationcarrying areas 58, 59 may e.g. be used in FIGS. 4.b. and 4.c.

FIGS. 6.a-6.c show various geometries of an electrically connectingsupport according to the invention.

Common for FIGS. 6.a-6.c is that the layer thicknesses 630, 640 of theelectrically insulating and conducting layers, respectively, areexaggerated compared to the dimensions of the patches 61 on theinformation carrying areas and the pads 62 on the PCB.

FIG. 6.a shows an embodiment of an electrically connecting support 60,where the thickness T_(il) 630 of the insulating layer 63 is larger thanthe thickness T_(cl) 640 of the conducting layer 64. The patches 61 ofthe information carrying area are shown to be of equal width Wpda 610and to abut each other. The pads 62 on the PCB are shown to have equalwidth Wcp 620 and to be evenly distributed with a distance Diacp 621between each pad.

FIG. 6.b shows an embodiment of an electrically connecting support 60,where the thickness T_(il) of the insulating layer 63 is smaller thanthe thickness T_(cl) of the conducting layer 64.

FIG. 6.c shows an embodiment of an electrically connecting support 60,where the thickness T_(il) of the insulating layer 63 equals thethickness T_(cl) of the conducting layer 64.

The relation Diacp>2*T_(cl) makes sure that the electrical states ofadjacent information carrying patches on the cartridge are nottransferred to the same pad in the contact area under the assumptionthat the border between adjacent patches is located at a position‘corresponding to midway between two pads’. The fulfillment of therelation Wcp>T_(il)+T_(cl) ensures that at least one conducting layercontacts any given pad. Correspondingly, the fulfillment of the relationWpda>T_(il)+T_(cl) ensures that each patch has contact to at least oneof the conducting layers of an electrically connecting support, when thecartridge is properly placed in the support.

In FIGS. 6.a-6.c, the information carrying patches on the cartridge areshown as abutted. This need not be the case. They may have any widthWpda as long as the relation Wpda>T_(il)+T_(cl) is fulfilled to ensurethat at least one conducting layer contacts any given informationcarrying patch.

The relations reflect the minimum distances of pads and patches andbetween pads and thus for given layer thicknesses determine theinformation density (minimum width per bit).

FIG. 7.a-7.b show an example of a cartridge and a support according tothe invention comprising three electrically connecting supports made ofelastic materials.

FIG. 7.a shows a cartridge 71 having an axis of rotational symmetry 72being positioned just above a support 70 comprising three individualelectrically connecting supports 701, 702, 703 ready for receiving thecartridge. The cartridge is provided with information carrying areaspositioned on the cartridge along its radial periphery with a spacingcorresponding to the geometry of the electrically connecting supports701, 702, 703. The space between the electrically connecting supportsmay be filled with an isolating material (e.g. silicone rubber), notshown.

In FIG. 7.b the cartridge 71 is positioned in the support 70 and fixedwith a slight downwards pressure indicated by the arrow 73. The supportincluding the electrically connecting supports 701, 702, 703 is made ofelastic materials so that it conforms to the shape of the cartridge overthe axial length of the support, when the cartridge is placed in thesupport.

The three items of information that may be simultaneously read may beidentical, in which case the redundancy may be used to improve thesafety in reading (by a simple majority test or by more advanced errorcorrecting techniques), or they may be different, in which case a largeramount of information may be read from the cartridge.

FIG. 8 shows geometries involved in reading an item of informationprovided a multitude of times along the periphery of a cartridge with arotational symmetry by means of two electrically connecting supports.

In FIG. 8, the electrically connecting supports 81, 82 are shown in aposition where they read information from information carrying areas830, 840, respectively, and transfer the information to groups of pads83, 84, respectively, on a PCB. The information carrying areas 810, 820,830, 840, 850, 860 on a label 80 carry an item of informationalternatingly in a binary true and inverted form as indicated by theschematically shown individual patches of equal width Wpda 89. Thepatches are either electrically conducting 8102 (no filling) orelectrically insulating 8101 (hatched).

The following geometric relations between the information carrying areaspositioned on a cartridge and the electrically connecting supports 81,82 of a support according to the invention for the cartridge:

Hica<Dctm<2*Hica+Dica, and

Hctm<Dica<2*Hctm+Dctm, where

-   Hica=Height 87 of information carrying areas-   Dica=Distance 88 between information carrying areas-   Hctm=Height 85 of electrically connecting supports-   Dctm=Distance 86 between electrically connecting supports.

Hica<Dctm ensures that the cartridge cannot be positioned in such a waythat a given information carrying area has contact to two electricallyconnecting supports at the same time.

Hctm<Dica ensures that the cartridge cannot be positioned in such a waythat a given electrically connecting support has contact to twoinformation carrying areas at the same time.

Dica<2*Hctm+Dctm ensures that the cartridge cannot be positioned in sucha way that the electrically connecting supports fall entirely betweentwo information carrying areas, in which case they would not havecontact to any of the information carrying areas of the cartridge.

Dctm<2*Hica+Dica ensures that the cartridge cannot be positioned in sucha way that two adjacent information carrying areas fall entirely betweenthe electrically connecting supports, in which case the latter might nothave contact to any of the information carrying areas of the cartridge.

In a preferred embodiment, the following relation is fulfilled (inaddition to the above mentioned relations between Dctm, Hctm, Dica,Hica), Dctm+Hctm=Dica+Hica, which ensures that the electricallyconnecting supports 81, 82 will have contact to two of the informationcarrying areas irrespective of the radial orientation of the cartridgein the support.

Some preferred embodiments have been shown in the foregoing, but itshould be stressed that the invention is not limited to these, but maybe embodied in other ways within the subject-matter defined in thefollowing claims. The invention may for example be applied to theelectronic marking of cartridges for other purposes than medical, e.g.film cartridges, various cassettes containing media holding digital dataor analog signals (e.g. representing software, data, film or music),etc., that are used in an electronic ‘environment’ (e.g. in a camera,computer, recorder, player, viewer, etc.).

1. A support for a medication holding cartridge provided with one ormore electronically readable items of information carrying area, whereinthe support is at least partially made from one or more electricallyconnecting supports, each comprising a plurality of closely spacedmutually electrically insulated conductors having a conducting layerthickness T_(cl), and embedded in an electrically insulating materialhaving an insulating layer thickness T_(il) that stretches from one ofthe supporting surfaces of the cartridge to a contact area for receivingand transferring the information when the cartridge is positioned in thesupport and wherein the cartridge has an axis of symmetry and thecontact area comprises a group of regularly spaced electricallyconducting pads of width W_(cp), with adjacent electrically conductingpads being separated by an electrically insulating area a distanceD_(iacp) and wherein D_(iacp)>(2*T_(cl)).
 2. The support of claim 1,wherein W_(cp)>T_(il)+T_(cl).